


Rival Souls (A MCYT Band AU)

by beyondAgitated



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: All relationships are platonic until stated otherwise, Dream sings, Extremely background Skephalo, George is surprisingly good at an electric guitar, I'll update the tag list as tags come to light then, Karl is TDT's manager, Might be background dnf and karlnap in the future, Mild angst that might get worse as the show goes on oops, Multi, Oh wait fair warning Dream and Techno are rivals and there's a fist fight at some point, Punz is a drummer, Sapnap can play bass, Sleepy Boys Inc - Freeform, The Dream Team, They use their screen names on stage but real names off stage, This is a lot of tags already oh no, he's good at it too, rival bands au lol, this is a band au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27717704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyondAgitated/pseuds/beyondAgitated
Summary: BEING REWRITTEN: PLEASE GO TO THE THIRD CHAPTER TO KNOW WHYIn an alternate universe where they don't play video games, but are instead a famous band, The Dream Team (plus Karl and Punz) try to make it big by going on tour for the first time out of state. They don't expect a rival band, one that has it out for them, to be going the same exact route: Sleepy Boys, Inc wants to be on top. And they'll get their way if Dream can't finish writing their new song, and fast. Because Wilbur is pushing out songs faster than lightning that have never been heard before, and it's not making TDT's lives any better.Then the unspeakable happens halfway through their tour: the tour bus breaks down, and they're stranded in a small town in Nebraska until a new one comes to pick them up. The catch? SBI had the same incident.With other smaller bands opening for them across country, can they make it through the rest of their tours without killing each other?(Updates whenever I have a chapter ready, sorry)
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Luke | Punz, Dave | Technoblade & Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, GeorgeNotFound & Luke | Punz, Luke | Punz & Sapnap, Toby Smith | Tubbo_ & TommyInnit
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thank you for reading. I've been wanting to find something about a band AU that lasted more than one or two images, so I decided to write one out myself! Please leave kudos and comments!

An electric guitar was strummed for a moment, playing a nice little riff that was cut off by a screech and laughter from four men in a bright room. A knock sounded on the door, and a young man with light brown hair peeked his head in. “Five minutes til show time, boys. Get your water and let’s go.”

“Thanks, Karl,” replied the man with the guitar. He shoved back his brunette hair and stood, the other three following. A small rush of grabbing pieces ensued, and the band followed Karl out of the green room and up to backstage, where they could hear hundreds of people calling their name. One trailed behind as his bandmates headed onto the stage, tucking his mask in place and grabbing a mic.

A few bops on the drum set came from the blonde on stage, and a man shouted something about doing it again. The click of his instrument being plugged into an amp set a grin to the bassist’s face. He blew a kiss to the crowd and tossed his black hair back, and several girls in the front row nearly fell over each other to catch the invisible kiss. The guitarist adjusted the sunglasses he wore for show (and against the bright uneven lighting) and looked to the side to wait for the call to go.

The masked blonde back stage took a quick drink of water, a deep breath, and nodded to his bandmate. The riff from earlier began to play, and went on for about ten seconds before the bassist started his notes; the drummer hit his cymbal and bass drum, and the vocalist took that as his cue and trotted onto stage and into his place right as his lyrics started.

The crowd went wild the second he appeared, and began to sing along with him and bounced to the beat of the song. The fast paced song ran adrenaline through the band, giving them energy as the chorus came up.

_Do you ever feel like you’re burning? With nothing inside your mind. Just blow away the ashes, I promise you’ll be fine. Just clear your head, my darling. Burn in this desire. Everything will be alright, if you become the fire!_

The band played their heart out and finished the song, and everything went a little quiet for a moment. The bassist picked up a steady drawl that lasted for a few moments before fading out, and the masked vocalist cleared his throat. “Good evening, Safety Harbor. Having fun?” The crowd roared, and he chuckled. “Good, cause we’re about to play a few more songs for you. Here’s our newest one, one I know you guys like: Trial By Death. Punz, hit it!”

The drummer began to pound on his snare, and the guitarist joined in at his cue. The next few songs played, then they took a minor break to get a drink and shake out their hands. Then the vocalist stood up and scanned the crowd. “Alright, I see a few children in the crowd. We’re each gonna pick a kid, and if their parents are okay with it, they can come on up and tell everyone their favorite song. Sound good?”

The crowd cheered, several kids screeching in glee. The masked singer went first, and pointed to a kid a few rows from the back. The little boy jumped excitedly, and one of the backstage crew started bringing him up. The bassist picked a little girl that was closer to the front, but still decently back. The guitarist picked a girl from the very middle of the room. And Punz, the drummer, picked a boy at the very farthest seat. The children excitedly ran up and lined up on stage next to the band. The mic was tossed to the bassist, who crouched down next to his kid.

“What’s your name, little one?” She grinned and put her hands behind her back, swaying happily. “My name’s Amy,” she replied in a soft, but excited voice. “You’re my favorite, Sapnap.” The crowd _aww_ ed, and the other band members feigned hurt to play for the crowd. The vocalist was the most dramatic about it. Sapnap chuckled.

“Nice to meet you, Amy. What’s your favorite song?”

She gave a bounce. “The one that says a lot of happy things about family. It’s my momma’s favorite, too.”

“Ah, you mean Never Alone. Got it. We can play that one.” The mic went to the guitarist next, and the little girl was practically bouncing in excitement.

“Why, hello there,” the guitarist smiled.

“Hello! My favorite song is Fake Destiney.”

“Ah, I see. You know, I wrote that one.” He gave her a wink, and she gasped and turned to the crowd.

“Dad! George wrote my favorite song!” Everyone got a laugh over that, and the mic was passed to Punz.

The little boy he’d chosen stood perfectly still, very nervous. He’d never been this close to his idol before, and it showed. Punz gave him a gentle smile. “Hello, there. It’s okay, I don’t bite.”

The boy tried to relax and leaned closer to the mic. “I really like the song about falling…” he said quietly into the mic.

Punz nodded. “Upside Down is a good song. You want us to play that one?” He nodded softly, and the drummer put the mic down a little and whispered to the boy, “Wanna quick hug?” His eyes widened, and he nodded again. Punz gave him a gentle hug, then ruffled his hair a little before tossing the mic to the final member of the band.

This boy seemed to really respect the vocalist, and when prompted about his favorite song, shouted “I really like Magnetizm, mister Dream sir!”

The band laughed, and the vocalist, Dream, nodded approvingly. “You keep that respect as you grow up, sound good?” The kid nodded. “Good. Now, you four get a very special gift. Our first ever merch!” The crowd cheered again, and the band’s manager, Karl, came out with four stuffed versions of the band. He handed each kid a respective copy of the member who called them up, telling them to hand the card that was attached to the toy’s hand to their parents. Security then escorted the kids back to their parents, and decided to take a larger break to calm down and rest up a bit before the next four songs.

The band went backstage with Karl and laughed over how happy the kids were. “I know I would have freaked if I’d gotten a stuffed version of my idol as a kid,” Punz stated before taking a big swig of water.

“And now there’s gonna be hundreds of kids getting copies of us to worship at night,” Sapnap chuckled.

“Nick! That’s satanic!” George protested, using his friend’s real name. Everyone but George used stage names to protect their identity a little better. George didn’t mind, as he wasn’t from America and didn’t feel the need to protect himself any further. His bandmates laughed.

“I think that’s the point. I say let the children worship,” the drummer teased.

“That makes us a group of satanists,” Dream chuckled.

“Luke! Clay! No!” George screeched again. “You three are gonna teach these children horrible things.”

“Hey, guys?” Karl bugged in. “Not to break up talk about satanism, but I wanted to bring something by you. What do you feel about going on a tour?”

That seemed to calm down George, and Luke nodded, thumping his drumsticks against his leg. “That sounds like a good idea.”

“How big of a tour are you thinking?” Clay asked, taking his mask off for a moment to shake out his hair. Karl handed him his comb and a hair-tie.

“I was thinking across the country. Like maybe forty stops? Maybe less? It could span over about four or five months and we’d be set.”

Clay hummed and pulled his hair into the man-bun he knew his fangirls went crazy over and handed the comb back. “What do you guys think of it?”

Nick grinned and tightened his headband. “I think it’s kickass, dude. We could totally do that.” Luke nodded his agreement.

“Are you sure we’re ready for that?” George asked.

Karl nodded. “My guys say there’s a lot of outsiders here tonight. As in, you’re big enough already that we’ve got people all the way from Montana coming to see your show live.”

That seemed to ease the guitarist into a smile. “Then I say we do it.”

Clay grinned and reattached his mask. “Let’s go on tour, boys! Karl can handle a few things while we finish up these last few songs.”

The band cheered together for a moment, then took another drink and went back on stage to start playing the four songs the kids had requested.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The band gets some interesting news related to their tour. Karl and Nick get a little cozy with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know I said "background karlnap and georgewastaken" but honestly it might be more than background. Especially karlnap cause I'm in a mood. Idk yet lol

A few days after the show, the band went to their club house. It was actually just George’s house, but he’d gotten a decent sized (and relatively distant from the neighbors) house, so TDT deemed it their club house. Karl laid out his initial plan for their tour, and they had it finalized by that afternoon. They split up for the remainder of the day. 

Just ten minutes after Luke left to get pizza, Clay was hovering over his notebook in the living room, thoughtfully chewing on his pen and humming softly. George looked up from the other side of the room, setting down his sunglasses on the table by his chair. “Whatcha up to?”

Clay sighed. “Working on another song. We have to finish this album before we go on tour so the audience can have something a little different from our only other album.”

George stepped closer to look at what he had. “How many songs do we have?”

“On this album? Ten. I was thinking of two more songs and calling it good.” He dropped the pen into the book and set it down, grabbing his water and taking a long gulp. “Only issue is, I can’t think of anything at the moment.”

“Need any help?”

“Help with what?” Luke asked, stepping into the room with two hot pizza boxes.

“Clay’s got a bit of song block,” George explained.

“I’ll get it, don’t worry,” Clay promised. “Let me have some of that. Where are Nick and Karl?”

Luke smirked. “Out on Nick’s bike together. They’ll either return in the next few minutes due to mild arguing, or they won’t return until really late, or even morning.”

The trio got a chuckle out of that. “They’re so oblivious,” Clay wheezed. “They still don’t realize that they’re attracted to each other.”

Luke scoffed and handed him a plate of pizza. “They’re not the only ones.”

“What do you mean by that?” George asked as he took his own plate.

He shook his head. “Nothing, ignore me.”

“Oh, come on,” Clay teased. “Who’s attracted to who?”

Luke paused and gave both of them a knowing look, then took his plate and dropped onto the couch. Instead of answering, he turned on the TV to the news channel. They were talking about an upcoming band that was about to go on tour. 

The front door opened, and Karl and Nick both came in. The other three took in how red their faces were, and how breathless they seemed, and grinned. “Have a nice ride?” Clay teased.

“Shut up,” Nick shot back without much fire. He plopped down on the other side of the couch from Luke, and Karl took the spot next to him. “Mind turning it up? I’m interested; I saw that kid at the grocery store yesterday.” Luke nodded and turned the volume up.

On the screen, an album cover showing five young men took up the screen. The title of the album read “Something I Miss” and the band title, Sleepy Boys, Inc. The newscaster went through the individual images again, the names signed in each member’s handwriting in a corner of the photo. None of the band in the living room recognized the names, but Karl was quickly taking notes and muttering the names and instruments as they came on screen.

“Tommy, base. Toby, keyboard. Phil, drummer. Wilbur, guitarist. And Techno, vocals.”

Clay scoffed. “The fuck kinda name is Techno?”

“Okay, Dream, Sapnap and Punz,” Karl replied with a smirk. “Oh, there’s their manager again.”

“That’s the kid I saw the other day,” Nick replied as the man was named Ponk. A small interview came on the screen.

“... I intend on these kids being the biggest band in the UK. But for that to happen, they need a bigger tour first. I was thinking the US.”

“And when do you intend on this tour taking place?” the interviewer asked.

Ponk looked directly at the camera and smirked. “We’ll be at our first concert in America on April third. Expect us at Cobbs Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia.”

The Dream Team exploded in shock, dropping whatever was in their hands as questions exploded out of the band. 

“Where the hell did this band come from?!”

“Why do they have our date and venue?!”

“Why did their manager smirk like that?! He knows something!”

“Who told them?!”

Karl had enough and shouted at the top of his lungs for the band to shut up. “Guys, all four of you take deep breaths. You need to calm down.” The band took a moment to calm down as the television went to a commercial break. “Better?”

“Alright,” Luke started. “Who the hell are they?”

Karl sighed. “So, I may have been talking to an old friend about the tour….”

“And let me guess,” Clay stated. “Ponk is that old friend.”

Karl awkwardly nodded. “But I didn’t think he’d try to take our show,” he quickly added.

“It’s fine, Karl,” Nick said with a soft reassuring smile. “You were just talking with a friend.”

“What are we going to do?” George asked.

Clay dug out his phone. “Let’s find out who these guys are.” He Googled the band name, then clicked on the first video link and cast it to the TV. The music video began to play, putting out a good beat. The room watched the video, listening to the lyrics.

_ You were the one who left, so it’s good to doubt that I’m something you miss; go away. I don’t want you in my life. Give me a better reason to say hi to a stray. _

The song ended, and the band stood there in shocked silence for a long moment. “They’re really good….” George muttered to himself, and the rest of the band muttered their agreement.

“Wait, guys, hold on,” Karl stated. “You’re greater than they are. I should know; I’ve been managing you four for almost three years.”

Nick relaxed first and lightly punched Karl’s arm, earning a soft red giggle from the latter. “Hey, you’re right. C’mon, guys. Perk up.”

Clay sighed. “Yeah, alright. Do we wanna get some improv practice done tonight before we all head out?”

That got Luke excited, and he pulled his drum sticks out of his hoodie pocket, spinning them to show off. “Hell, yeah. You know I love a good improv practice. Let’s go!” And he took off at a jog for the recording studio without checking to see if anyone else joined. The rest of them chuckled and followed him.

Karl found a spot to sit while the band got their instruments ready. Clay sat down to get ready to write out some lyrics on a fresh page, hoping this would help jog some inspiration. George waited until the other two were ready, then picked a riff to start with, letting instinct and the music take over. Nick closed his eyes and started his own strumming when he felt it was right, and Luke started his drumming not long after.

Clay anxiously wrote down the notes that stuck out to him, getting a bit of inspiration from his friends’ easygoing play. He just needed some lyrics. Karl quietly tossed out that it felt like a song made for romance, and Clay took note of both the words and how he couldn’t seem to keep his gaze off the bassist. He wrote down some notes and a reminder to ask Nick about help with this song later.

The band finished out their practice, and by then it was too late for everyone to go home, so George offered rooms. Luke offered to take the couch, since there weren't enough rooms for everyone to have their own, but Nick smoothly asked Karl if he would mind a roommate for the night. After a bit of puppy eyes from the younger man, Karl relented with a beet red face. Luke still ended up with the couch, though, having been used to going to bed with noise. The band slept peacefully, nearly having forgotten about their new rivals: Sleepy Boys, Inc.


	3. AUTHOR'S NOTE/HAITUS

Hello, I just wanted to let everyone know that my original plans for this fic changed, and as such, I will be spending some time completely reworking it and turning it into a longer one-shot instead of a chunk of short(ish) chapters.

Sorry for the hold up on it, as well. If you're keeping up with my other MCYT fic, you know what's happening. For those who aren't, Mother took my things illegally (I'm 18) for a dumb reason, and I only just got my phone back yesterday. In fact, I'm typing all this on my phone right now. But I do not have my laptop, and therefore cannot work on any of my stories.

So for the time being, this fic is on hiatus, and I'll post on my Twitter when it's been fixed and is ready for reading.

Twitter: mipsaysyes


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